Mark B's Build Thread

[Mark B.]

I haven't posted in a while as I've had the car back apart this summer redoing the exhaust and re-mounting the rear clam. The exhaust came about after I ran the Texas mile and realized that one of my Flowmaster DBX mufflers blew out. I decided to completely reroute the system, remove the cats, add an X-pipe and adding heat shielding, and new mufflers. I have to say I'm surprised that it doesn't sound much different in the car. I don't have any video yet of it outside the car at speed but will grab some as soon as I can.

I'm very happy with how the new hinge and clam mount works. I admit I completely ripped off the basic design from Frank after seeing his car earlier this year. The mount is much stronger than the original one was and opens fully.

Here's a video going through the project

 

[Hector]

Mark:

Great job on the exhaust, sounds great!!! I am pretty sure I will have to re do mine eventually, way too loud as it is, the original mufflers I chose did not fit since I had to modify the rear clam to accommodate the corvette tail lights .

Quick question, you had the car at 187 mph , if I remember correctly , with a street tail , I guess not having the rear wing on the back obviously with less downforce on the street tail is not a problem (I have the street tail )

Hoping to visit you soon with my street legal SLC , getting close !!!

 

[Mark B.]

Mark:

Great job on the exhaust, sounds great!!! I am pretty sure I will have to re do mine eventually, way too loud as it is, the original mufflers I chose did not fit since I had to modify the rear clam to accommodate the corvette tail lights .

Quick question, you had the car at 187 mph , if I remember correctly , with a street tail , I guess not having the rear wing on the back obviously with less downforce on the street tail is not a problem (I have the street tail )

Hoping to visit you soon with my street legal SLC , getting close !!!

Hi Hector,
Yea the car was absolutely stable at 187 with the street tail. That's in a straight line of course -- if I get really serious about track days like Howard, I'd add a wing. There is downforce in the rear coming from the tail -- very unscientifically measured by looking at the rear view camera in my Texas Mile video: The camera is mounted to the transaxle with a cutout in the body that it 'looks' through. You can see the body pushing down in to the camera's view as the car gets faster and the body mount flexes (that was before I redid the rear clam mount and reinforced it).
I think the larger radiator exit / ducting helped to keep the front planted as well. Alignment was huge as well. The first time I went out I had it set up more for track (something like 1/32" tow out in front). At 140ish it didn't want to track straight. I changed to about 1/32" toe IN and it was perfect after that at speed.
I'd love to meet up some time when you're ready to take it out! I'm disassembling mine right now to get ready for paint but should be back on the road in a couple of months.

 

[Hector]

Hi Hector,
Yea the car was absolutely stable at 187 with the street tail. That's in a straight line of course -- if I get really serious about track days like Howard, I'd add a wing. There is downforce in the rear coming from the tail -- very unscientifically measured by looking at the rear view camera in my Texas Mile video: The camera is mounted to the transaxle with a cutout in the body that it 'looks' through. You can see the body pushing down in to the camera's view as the car gets faster and the body mount flexes (that was before I redid the rear clam mount and reinforced it).
I think the larger radiator exit / ducting helped to keep the front planted as well. Alignment was huge as well. The first time I went out I had it set up more for track (something like 1/32" tow out in front). At 140ish it didn't want to track straight. I changed to about 1/32" toe IN and it was perfect after that at speed.
I'd love to meet up some time when you're ready to take it out! I'm disassembling mine right now to get ready for paint but should be back on the road in a couple of months.

Thank you for the info, yes , we will meet soon hopefully after our cars are painted, I am plastic dipping mine for now , like Cam .

 

[Mark B.]

Hi everyone,
Quick update and question for you all...
I have the car partially disassembled and off getting painted. I decided on paint rather than dip or wrap since the whole car needs sanding/filling and there were several areas I needed repaired anyway and this way I'll have a base if I do decide to play with different colors later with a dip. Since it's still a street/track car I'm not doing a high-dollar paint job. Hope to get it back in a few weeks and start re-assembling it.

In the mean-time I'm getting ready to do the interior. After looking at different options for the dash and header/bulkhead I decided to order the carbon versions of those parts from Fran. For the tub, I trimmed quite a bit off so just the side and rear areas are left (I like the exposed aluminum). So I want to wrap those areas of the tub with something like trunk carpet. I'm looking for any recommendations from you all on what materials you've used or what to avoid as well as any tricks and tips.

Thanks!

 

[Joel K]

Hi Mark,

If you can post a pic of how you trimmed the tub I would be interested in seeing it. I’ve been thinking about how I’ll install the carpet and wanted to make removable molded sections where the carpet lays against the flat chassis floor and sides. I didn’t want to just use contact cement on the sound and heat shielding. If using contact cement I have to pull up the carpeting I am thinking it would destroy the layer it was attached to.

I haven’t come to a conclusion but right now thinking to make patterns out of 1/16” garolite sheets. Cut those to fit the floor and sides of the chassis and glue the carpeting to them. then screw the sheets into the chassis in a few places. Can even shape them with Some fiberglass resin and mat and are fire retardant.

 

[Mark B.]

Hey Joel,
Here are a couple screen grabs from a video I took before I dropped the car off. Not great angles, but you can get the idea. I completely removed the center console as well as the area in front of the seats. I kept those pieces in case I ever decide to put them back in, but after driving it for over a year I prefer it this way. You can also see the access panel behind the driver's seat for fuel tank fitting access.

 

[Mark B.]

Hey everyone,
I've been heads-down in the painting process of the car -- disassembled it last month, off to paint, and just got it back. Now it's on to carpeting the tub and reassembly which will likely take me another month with work/family priorities. Of course I'm doing a bunch of "while I'm at it" projects, like some body reinforcements, raptor-pro bedliner under the front and rear clips, rebuilding/altering and new frame for the factory shifter, etc. I'll post pics / videos on each as I get stuff wrapped up later this month/in to March.

PSA: One of the pain points I've had the couple times I've needed to remove the Hella headlight units is the plastic clips that hold the adjusting screws to the body frequently crack on removal. It's not something you have to do a lot of course, but you have to buy the clips as a set that includes the adjusting screws and the internet seems to think they're worth $20 or more for a package of 3. I found a supplier that has them for $7.50 for the set if you ever break yours: https://www.partshubdirect.com/products/hella-152977001-adjusting-screw-for-90mm-series-lamp-95663

 

[Mark B.]

Hi everyone!
Well one of my many side projects on the car was rebuilding the factory shifter. I have the basic one for the Graz that came with the kit back in 2014 (not the nice gated shifter). It worked, but shifts were very sloppy/loose, and it lacked a reverse lockout which made for some occasional embarrassing moments when shifting down from 3 to 2 and accidentally hitting the reverse gate.
The other reason is that since I decided to go with a minimalist interior, I removed the center console and a portion of the tub forward of the seats so the shifter is exposed. The stock shifter is pretty ugly, so I wanted to change it up.
Rather than throw money at it, I wanted to try to reuse much of the original mechanism but simplify it a little by removing extra pivot points and also added bearings wherever possible along with tighter tolerances on moving parts.
Overall I'm really happy with how it turned out given my ugly welds and doing all the fabrication with basic tools (miter saw, drill press, TiG welder). Definitely not nearly as pretty as the RCR CNC piece though. The feel is MUCH better/tighter and the push-through reverse spring works well.

Video linked below of the process along with the finished product and comparing it to the original case.

 

[Mark B.]

Venting:
So I've been gradually getting the car back together post-paint. Have it 80% done and was trying to get it on the road. Had the brake calipers Cerakoted and was bleeding them after getting them back together. F#%*ing Speed-bleeders kept leaking and in my frustration I over-torqued one and stripped one of the bleeder threads in the caliper . Ordered a heli-coil so no driving this weekend. Throwing the speed-bleeders away as they've always leaked a little and will just bribe my wife or daughter to help me bleed them. Oh well - This weekend I'll focus on trimming out the carbon fiber header and dash that I bought instead of driving....

 

[Howard Jones]

Get one of these and make/modify your own master cylinder caps with screw-in AN-3 fittings and use a length of brake line type hose to connect it all up. Something like below but with a male AN fitting screwed into the cap. You will use this forever and smile every time you do. I bleed and replace all my brake fluid each winter and it takes me about 2 hours and a couple of beers, Easy Peizy

Motive Products Power Bleeder 2 Quart Tank and Pump without adapter PEL.0090 PEL0090 PEL 0090 | Pelican Parts

Motive Products Power Bleeder 2 Quart Tank and Pump without adapter InStock Ships Today! $39.95. Call (310)626-8765. May Qualify For FREE SHIPPING. Parts# PEL 0090 PEL.0090 PEL0090.

www.pelicanparts.com

 

[Alex]

Venting:
So I've been gradually getting the car back together post-paint. Have it 80% done and was trying to get it on the road. Had the brake calipers Cerakoted and was bleeding them after getting them back together. F#%*ing Speed-bleeders kept leaking and in my frustration I over-torqued one and stripped one of the bleeder threads in the caliper . Ordered a heli-coil so no driving this weekend. Throwing the speed-bleeders away as they've always leaked a little and will just bribe my wife or daughter to help me bleed them. Oh well - This weekend I'll focus on trimming out the carbon fiber header and dash that I bought instead of driving....

you don't need 2 people to bleed brakes.

get a plastic water bottle, fill it 1/4 of the way with brake fluid, then run the hose from the bleeder into the bottom of the bottle (hose submerged in fluid). To make sure the hose stays put, put the bottle cap back on but drill a 1/4'' hole in it to grab the bleeder line to keep it from moving.

open the brake line, then just start mashing the brake pedal, keeping an eye on amount of fluid in the reservoir and re-fill when it gets low

as long as the hose stays submerged you won't draw air back in

pretty straight forward - like this

heli-coiling the bleeder threads can work but you better have a good fixture and drill straight and not damage the seat ... i.e., you better know what you're doing.

 

[Mark B.]

Thanks guys, those are some good options.

 

[Mark B.]

Several months ago I decided to upgrade my battery. I had a Deka ETX18L (340 CA, 20AH, 15.5lbs, $125) which actually worked just fine as long as I kept it on a battery tender when stored and shut off my battery switch whenever I parked it for more than a couple hours since the Infinitybox would run it down.

Then our little BMW i3's aux battery died which happens to use the same case, so the SLC sacrificed her battery to our daily driver.

I ended up going with an Antigravity ATX-20 (680 CA, 20 AH, 3.8 lbs, $320). That model also has "restart" which auto-disconnects the battery if it goes below about 12.6 volts so you can push a button on the battery to still start the car if it does drain down. It's worth mentioning I also had to buy a new CTEK 56-926 lithium charger since my old Battery Tender isn't lithium compatible.

While the old small battery started my 12:1 compression 388 CI LS7 easily, the new one definitely has more power and cranks much faster. The car is obviously not a daily driver so it never sits for days on-end while not on the tender, but so far I'm very happy with the battery.

I decided to do a test to see how long it would take to run the battery down with the battery switch on (car ignition not on, but infinity box active). I started with it fully charged at 14.2 volts. Within about an hour it dropped to its nominal voltage of 13.5. It lasted 70.5 hours before it disconnected itself. I pressed the "restart" button and the car fired right up. Graph below shows the voltage over time (yes I literally went out and manually measured the voltage every 30 minutes except while I was sleeping so I interpolated those ranges ). I found it interesting that the curve dipped a fair amount each evening -- presumably because my garage isn't heated, but it only got down to something like 40 degrees F those nights.

 

[Joel K]

Mark,

Thanks for posting this. Glad to hear the battery fired the engine right up. I also went with an Antigravity battery after Dusty and a couple other Ultima builders recommended them.

 

[Mark B.]

Brake bleeder is fixed! Wow that was a pain in the butt. Helicoil, 90-degree countersink bit to re-grind the seat along with some valve grinding compound and a Q-tip on the drill for final polishing. Yes I was literally raised on a farm and my dad worked in a scrap yard, so you make it work with what you got.

 

[Mark B.]

I also decided to replace the fiberglass dash with a carbon fiber one after I didn't really like the prices/options of covering it (and I don't have the skill to do a satisfactory job myself). It's still the gloss epoxy from RCR's supplier -- I may do a matte clear-coat on it if the glare is annoying. For the curious, the stock dash is 11.8 lbs and the carbon one is 8.6 lbs. I replaced the painted aluminum insert panels I had made with thin carbon fiber sheets. The finish doesn't match the dash but for now it's fine. I also got a carbon roof/bulkhead panel but still need to do a lot of trimming on that.

I also replaced the original Olds steering column with a simple steering shaft since the tilt was unusable anyway. I removed the lights/turn signal stalk and just made a simple bracket. Relocated the horn and wipers to dash buttons. I thought about a wireless setup to replace all of those, but that's not in my budget -- maybe down the road. Replacing the steering column freed up a lot of room under the dash and also saved 10 lbs.

 

[ChrisNebraska]

Looks super clean, Mark! Any pics or info on the steering shaft setup?

 

[Mark B.]

Looks super clean, Mark! Any pics or info on the steering shaft setup?

Thanks!
Here are a couple pics of the steering shaft. It's just a 3/4 DD shaft mounted with spherical rod ends with clamps to prevent sliding. NRG makes a weld-on quick-release adapter. The turn signal bracket is just piece of 1/8 aluminum.

 

[Mark B.]

Finally have the car back together with paint! I'm cobbling together a video, but in the mean-time here are a few pics. Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out, particularly since I went with a 'track car' quality paint job (i.e. cheap -- under $5K). I went with paint rather than dip or wrap because I wanted the door jambs, inner doors, etc covered. They did pretty basic panel smoothing, removing seams, etc.
The color is a Corvette color (Watkins Glen Grey, code G7Q). I wanted something that was a little more subdued to offset the fact that these cars are attention magnets . It also helps hide some of the areas / body gap lines that aren't perfect. I also got the calipers Cerakoted red with black painted "Brembo" lettering.